​Poems by Nikola Madžirov 

1.
HOME
 
I lived at the edge of the town
like a streetlamp whose light bulb
no one ever replaces.
Cobwebs held the walls together,
and sweat our clasped hands.
I hid my teddy bear
in holes in crudely built stone walls
saving him from dreams.
 
Day and night I made the threshold come alive
returning like a bee that
always returns to the previous flower.
It was a time of peace when I left home:
 
the bitten apple was not bruised,
on the letter a stamp with an old abandoned house.
 
From birth I’ve migrated to quiet places
and voids have clung beneath me
like snow that doesn’t know if it belongs
to the earth or to the air.
 
 
 
 
2.
AFTER US
 
One day someone will fold our blankets
and send them to the cleaners
to scrub the last grain of salt from them,
will open our letters and sort them out by date
instead of by how often they’ve been read.
 
One day someone will rearrange the room’s furniture
like chessmen at the start of a new game,
will open the old shoebox
where we hoard pyjama-buttons,
not-quite-dead batteries and hunger.
 
One day the ache will return to our backs
from the weight of hotel room keys
and the receptionist’s suspicion
as he hands over the TV remote control.
 
Others’ pity will set out after us
like the moon after some wandering child.


​Translated by Graham and Peggy W. Reid
 
 
 
1.
ДОМ
 
 
Живеев на крајот од градот
како улично светло на кое никој
не му ја менува светилката.
Пајажината ги држеше ѕидовите заедно,
потта нашите споени дланки.
Во преобразбите на невешто соѕиданите камења
го криев плишаното мече
спасувајќи го од сонот.
 
Деноноќно го оживував прагот
враќајќи се како пчела што
секогаш се враќа на претходниот цвет.
Беше мир кога го напуштив домот:
 
гризнатото јаболко не беше потемнето,
на писмото стоеше марка со стара напуштена куќа.
 
Кон тивките простори од раѓање се движам
и под мене празнини се лепат
како снег што не знае дали на земјата
или на воздухот припаѓа.
 
 
 
 
 
2.
ПО НАС
 
 
Еден ден некој ќе ги здипли нашите ќебиња
и ќе ги прати на хемиско чистење
од нив да го истрие последното зрнце сол,
ќе ги отвори нашите писма и ќе ги реди по датуми
наместо по исчитаност.
 
Еден ден некој ќе го размести мебелот во собата
како шаховски фигури на почеток од нова игра,
ќе ја отвори старата кутија за чевли
во која ги чуваме паднатите копчиња од пижамите,
недотрошените батерии и гладта.
 
Еден ден ќе ни се врати болката во 'рбетот
од тежината на хотелските клучеви и
сомнежот со кој рецепционерот ни го подава
далечинскиот управувач.
 
Туѓите сожалувања ќе тргнат по нас
како месечина по заталкано дете.
 
 

​Nikola Madžirov (poet, essayist, translator) was born in 1973 in Strumica, in the family of war refugees from the Balkan Wars. When he was 18, the collapse of Yugoslavia prompted a shift in his sense of identity – as a writer reinventing himself in a country which felt new but was still nourished by deeply rooted historical traditions. His poems are translated into more than forty languages. For the book Relocated Stone (2007) was given the international Hubert Burda poetry award for the writers born in Central and East Europe and the most prestigious Macedonian poetry award Miladinov Brothers at Struga Poetry Evenings. Other recognitions include Studentski Zbor award for best poetry debut, the main international award at the Orpheus Poetry Festival in Plovdiv and Xu Zhimo Silver Leaf award for European poetry at King’s College, Cambridge in UK. American composer and collaborator of Björk and Lou Reed — Oliver Lake, the founder of “Snarky Puppy” — Michael League and Becca Stevens have composed music based on Madzirov's poems. He was granted the following international fellowships: International Writing Program (IWP) at University of Iowa; DAAD and LCB in Berlin; Marguerite Yourcenar in France; Civitella Ranieri in Italy; Yaddo and MacDowell in US, as well as several Traduki writer-in-residence fellowships. Nikola Madzirov is coordinator of the international poetry network Lyrikline, based in Berlin. He edited the Macedonian edition of the Anthology of World’s Poetry: XX and XXI Century and translated Louise Glück, Yehuda Amichai, Vasko Popa, Slavenka Drakulić, Georgi Gospodinov and many others. He was member of the jury for The Griffin International Poetry Prize 2023. He lives in the city of his birth.

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